


More Than I Hoped For

by stellarose



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort Food, Domestic Fluff, Endgame Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gardens & Gardening, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Protective Alex Danvers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24769417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarose/pseuds/stellarose
Summary: When Eliza goes on vacation, Kara offers to housesit the family home in Midvale. Time away from National City allows her to focus on what's really important: food, family, and those pesky feelings she's having for Lena.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 73
Kudos: 505





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set post whatever was supposed to happen at the end of Season 5. A lot of fluff and food, and nothing heavier mentioned than what's seen on screen.

“Oh, and girls,” Eliza said, part-way through their evening FaceTime chat, “I have just a little announcement. It’s good news, don’t worry. I can see you face, Alex!” Eliza laughed.

Alex tried to make her face neutral, and shuffled slightly closer to Kara on the couch. Kara poked Alex who scowled, making Kara laugh. Alex’s protective streak got the best of her whenever her mother mentioned anything that could possibly be bad.

“I’m going over to Britain for a few weeks in August for a vacation,” Eliza grinned. “I haven’t been overseas since before I had Alex, and with everything that’s happened this past year, especially losing Jeremiah, well, it’s got me thinking that if I don’t go now, I might never get the chance.”

“Oh, Eliza, that’ll be brilliant!” Kara exclaimed. “You’ll have so much fun.”

“By yourself, mom?” Alex asked.

“Alex, you don’t need to worry about me, I’m a big girl, and I won’t be entirely by myself. I’m going to do a cruise around Great Britain and Ireland for a fortnight, and before and after the cruise I’ll be staying in London. I’ll send you the details of the hotel so you can check up on me. I have a couple of very old friends who live in and around London, plus it’s my cousin Margaret’s 60th birthday, so it will be nice to be there to celebrate. You girls aren’t the only ones in this family who are allowed to have adventures.”

“I’m jealous. I want to come,” Kara pouted.

Eliza laughed. “Oh, Kara, you can go whenever you want! Maybe you could join me on one day?”

“Really? Yes, Eliza, that would be prefect!”

“I’ll be right here, all by myself,” Alex grumbled, crossing her arms.

“Oh come on, you and Kelly have that trip to Alaska planned,” Kara said.

“Yeah, but it’s not a day in London with mom,” Alex said.

“Alex, I will come to National City and spend the day with you before I go,” Eliza said. “I have a question, girls: what would you think about me getting someone in to housesit the house while I’m away? I wouldn’t worry if it was for a few nights or even a week, but I’ll be gone for most of the month, and I don’t like leaving the house unattended for that amount of time.”

“I’ll do it,” Kara said automatically.

“What? No, Kara, you don’t have to. Flying to and from National City every day…”

“No, I mean I’ll stay at the house the whole time,” Kara said. “I think it would be good, especially with everything that’s happened recently, everything with Lex, with Crisis, with… well, I kind of just need a rest. An where better than Midvale?”

“Really?” Eliza asked.

“I have plenty of annual leave saved up,” Kara said, “I’ve hardly used any over the past few years. Eliza, I - I think just hanging out at home… I think I need that.”

Alex slid her hand into Kara’s and gave it a squeeze.

“Besides,” Kara continued, entwining her fingers with Alex’s, “If anyone needs Supergirl, I’m only a phone call away.”

Eliza nodded. “Well, Kara, if you’re happy to stay here, then that is fine by me. The only issue is, I have just planted tomatoes, and you will be entrusted with keeping them alive. Also the zucchini plants will be producing more zucchinis than you’ll know what to do with, the lettuce will be finishing up, same with the strawberries, but the thornless blackberry should still be going strong.”

Kara laughed. “Eliza, I helped restart the multi-verse, I think I can take care of your garden.”

“I’m holding you too that, Kara Danvers! If I’m leaving you in charge of the house and my tomatoes die, you’ll be in more trouble than in whatever misadventures you get up to while superheroing.”

“If you can’t trust Supergirl with your vegetables, who can you trust?” Kara asked.

Alex rolled her eyes dramatically and elbowed Kara. “Ok, mom, we’re going now, and you give Kara the run down of how to garden another time. I’m hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten? Girls, it’s after eight o’clock.”

“I had a half-dozen potstickers at five-thirty,” Kara said, “But now I will have second-dinner with Alex.”

“Second dinner isn’t a thing,” Alex grumbled.

“Yes it is,” Kara said. “It’s the meal I’m about to have with you.”

Eliza laughed. “Ok, girls, go and get something to eat. Alex clearly needs it. I love you both, and I’ll talk to you really soon.”

“Love you, mom. Bye.”

“Bye, Eliza! Love you!”

…

“Airport traffic is the worst,” Kara complained as they slowly navigated their way out of the airport, mindful of the buses and taxis that changed lanes without indicating, and tourists in hire cars who had no idea what they were doing or where they were going.

“Well, sorry not all of us can personally fly ourselves to wherever we want to go,” Alex said, keeping an eye out for motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic and pedestrians with no sense of personal safety or general spacial awareness.

“I’m hungry,” Kara said, looking out the window.

“You just ate.”

“It was only muffin.”

“It was roughly the size of your head.”

“Well, I’m hungry again. Watching planes makes me hungry.” Kara and Alex had stayed at the airport to watch Eliza’s plane depart from the viewing lounge.

“Fine,” Alex sighed, giving in. "We can stop at that McDonald’s that’s up the road a bit if it means I don’t have to listen to you whine the whole way to Midvale.”

“We could just go back to central National City, and I’ll take myself to Midvale.”

“No, I’m taking you.”

“Because you love me,” Kara grinned.

Alex didn’t respond, shaking her head and concentrating on getting them out of the labyrinth of roads around National City Airport and onto the ring road, and getting a burger and fries to keep Kara quiet for a little bit.

It was late in the afternoon when Alex and Kara arrived at their family home in Midvale.

“I think I’m just going to use the bathroom, then head back to National City,” Alex said, stretching as she climbed out of the car.

“You’re allowed to stay,” Kara said, going to the back of the car to get her bags. “You’ve been driving almost all day.”

“Exactly, and now I just want to get home to Kelly. It’s Monday again tomorrow, and she has a busy week, so I want to spend time with her while I can. Besides, she promised me something special for dinner.”

“Ew, Alex, I don’t need to know that,” Kara said, as they walked up to the door.

“What - oh, gross, Kara! I didn’t mean that. I mean she’s making me some delicious food. I have a feeling it’s homemade pizzas, and if there’s anything extra special for dessert, well, what can I say?”

“Ew, now you’re doing it on purpose!” Kara cried as Alex let them into the house.

Alex laughed. “It’s your fault. You started it.”

Kara pulled a face.

“Home sweet home,” Alex said quietly, looking around the familiar surroundings, shutting the front door behind Kara who carried her bags upstairs.

Ten minutes later, Alex was ready to leave.

“Message me as soon as you get home,” Kara said, wrapping her arms around Alex.

“I will. Call me if you need anything, even if you just want to chat. Have a good time. And if you let mom’s tomatoes die, you’ll probably be in more trouble than that time you were kidnapped by alternate-universe Nazis.”

“Oh, I know,” Kara said, not exactly willing to let Alex go. “And you’re definitely coming the weekend after next?”

“Yes, and bringing Kelly,” Alex said, slowly letting go of Kara. “I can’t wait to show her this place.”

“Ok, well, message me or I’ll worry.”

“I will. Have a good evening. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Kara said, as Alex climbed into the car. Kara stood on the porch and waved as Alex drove out of sight, before going inside and taking stock. In the fridge she found a large homemade lasagne with a note reading _Don’t eat it all at once! xx_ , along with some apples, berries, and a few of her favourite candy bars. On the kitchen bench was a note saying which dates the bins needed to be put out, basic gardening tips, and the phone number of the pizza shop in town.

“Thanks, Eliza,” Kara said, sticking the note to the fridge with a magnet.

She then went upstairs to unpack her things. It felt like coming home from camp, unpacking her bags, sorting out what went into which draw, setting out her toiletries in the bathroom. At least there was no pile dirty, stinky washing as there always was after camp. Once she was done, Kara went back downstairs, cut a generous slice of the lasagne and heated it in the microwave, checking where in the stratosphere Eliza’s plane currently was on the Plane Finder app while she waited. The microwave pinged and Kara proceeded to happily ate the lasagne. Once she was done scraping every last bit off the plate she still wanted more, but could hear Alex teasing her, and decided to leave the rest for tomorrow.

Kara locked up before going back upstairs. She went out onto the balcony and took a photo of the sun setting over the lake.

 **Kara:** This is the view from the house right now. I’m really looking forward to you visiting next weekend.

She attached the photo and pressed send. A few moments later her phone buzzed.

 **Lena:** This is my view right now. I’m sure you’re jealous of an outlook like that. I’m looking forward to coming too. It’ll be nice to get National City out of the lungs. Midvale looks beautiful.

Kara chuckled at the photo of the white walls and fluorescent lighting inside Lena’s lab. Over the past couple of months since Lena helped the Superfriends defeat Lex, Kara and Lena had slowly been rebuilding their friendship. They started with lunch once a week, with Tuesday before-work breakfast soon being added, and for the past month Lena had been coming along to games night. Kara enjoyed having Lena back in her life like this more than she could explain.

 **Kara:** Go home! It’s Sunday evening. I’d say go find something to watch on Netflix, but knowing you you’ll have a pile of unread books. Do you even have Netflix? Have a night off! :)

Kara pressed send and waited for a reply, watching as the sun slowly went down. Midvale was beautiful in the late summer. It was beautiful all year, and just by being here, Kara could feel the stress rolling off her. It had been too long since she’d taken a break, somehow convincing herself that she didn’t need one or it was too hard to leave everything behind, despite all the while knowing in the back of her mind that wasn’t true. It had been easy to arrange time off from Catco, and Kara had had time to finish up on any pressing assignments, and hand everything ongoing over to Nia. She’d told Nia to call her at any time if she had any queries or issues, but Kara knew Nia had it covered. As for Supergirl, well, there wasn’t anywhere in the world Kara couldn’t get to in a couple of minutes at most.

 **Lena:** Just ordered take-away from that good Thai place around the corner from the office. Leaving now to pick it up. No, I do not have Netflix. I do have a book I’m part way through, maybe I can get it finished this week so I can start a new one when I come to Midvale

 **Kara:** I’m sure you will! Have a good night :)

 **Lena:** You too. Enjoy that lovely view ♡

Kara smiled and pocketed her phone, feeling that coming to Midvale was definitely the right thing to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Lena arrived in Midvale right on lunchtime in her shiny black Lexus, wearing black skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt, sneakers in a style that Kara wouldn’t have thought that Lena would have owned, and her hair in a high ponytail, though not as tightly slicked back as she wore it to work. Kara greeted her with a hug and took Lena’s bag.

“I can carry that,” Lena said, holding out a gift bag to Kara. She’d been a little apprehensive coming to Midvale, and was worried she was somehow going to ruin the whole thing. Since defeating Lex everything had been going so well, but Lena’s mind kept drifting back to what had happened, how easily everything had gone wrong and how hard it had been to get back to his point. “This is for you.”

“Oh, thank-you Lena,” Kara said, graciously taking the gift bag while manoeuvring Lena’s luggage to her other hand as she led the way into the house.

“I’m staying overnight, just a bottle of wine was hardly sufficient,” Lena said, taking in her surrounds which included Kara’s patterned leggings and fashionably oversized sweatshirt. “Besides, buying gifts forced me out of the office one lunchtime during the week. Though I ended up having so much fun in the bookshop I was almost late to my next meeting.”

“At least it’s a good excuse,” Kara smiled, placing the bag on the kitchen bench and giving Lena a quick tour downstairs. “Here’s the kitchen, those doors open up but it’s a bit windy to have them open today. Downstair’s bathroom is in there, and here’s the guest room. My room is upstairs,” Kara said, placing Lena’s bag at the foot of the bed.

“Queen size bed, lake views, private bathroom. You could be charging quite a bit for this,” Lena said, looking around the neat and tidy guest room.

“Sorry there’s no desk, but it’s only you and me, and I don’t mind if you work on the kitchen table,” Kara said.

“Would you believe that I didn’t even bring my laptop?” Lena said. It had felt freeing to purposefully leave her laptop behind, packing only books, clothes, toiletries and her phone charger. “I can check emails on my phone and I can do that from anywhere.”

“Great,” Kara smiled. “Well, I’ll let you get yourself sorted. We’re having cheese, tomato and mustard toasted-sandwiches for lunch. Fresh bread from the bakery in town and the tomatoes are from the garden.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Lena said. “I had a rather disappointing breakfast consisting of the last of a box of cornflakes which ended up going soggy because I had a work-call come in when I was half-way through.”

“It’s not hard to beat crushed, soggy cornflakes,” Kara said.

“Well, if the sandwiches are soggy…” Lena teased.

“They won’t be,” Kara said and smiled, leaving Lena to unpack. Kara opened the gift bag, finding two bottles of wine, one red and one white, plus a book in the brown paper bag of National City Central Bookstore. Kara pulled out a copy of _This Book Is About Dumplings._ Kara squealed with delight. “Lena, oh my goodness this is perfect!”

“I’m glad you like it!” Lena called from the bedroom, feeling a strange mix of pleasure and relief manifesting as a flutter in her stomach. “It’s brand new, so I don’t know anything about it, but when I saw it on the ‘New Releases’ table I knew that was the one.”

Kara flipped through the book excitedly. “Ok, I am so glad I am here for a few more weeks, because I am going to be making everything in here. Just looking at these photos is making me hungry. Oh, right, the lunch!”

Lena laughed and having unpacked a few things she emerged from the bedroom, looking at the photos on the sideboard while Kara made their lunch.

“Is this Alex as a baby?” Lena asked, holding up a silver-framed photo.

“The fat baby? Yep, that’s Alex.”

“She’s a beautiful baby.”

“She was a fat baby.”

“Babies are supposed to be fat.”

“Well, Alex was 90th percentile.”

Lena laughed. “90th percentile for cuteness as well. Look at all that hair. I was a bald baby, embarrassingly. Nowhere near as cute as Alex.”

“I’m sure you were a gorgeous baby. Imagine those big, green eyes on baby Lena.”

“I looked all out of proportion,” Lena said. “Ooh, this is you in high school!”

“Yep, that’s me,” Kara said, feeling as strange sense of pride as Lena looked through the framed photos.

“Is this Alex dressed up as Wonder Woman?” Lena asked, holding a photo of Alex aged about six in a fancy-dress costume.

“I think she was supposed to be a princess, but insisted on wearing sneakers and having a shield and sword because she was the princess who was going to save herself from the dragon.”

Lena chuckled. “Did you travel a lot as a family? Here you all are at the Grand Canyon, here’s one at Niagara Falls, you and Alex at Yosemite…”

“Yeah, Jeremiah and Eliza wanted me to know all about the country and world I was being raised in, so most school breaks we’d all pile into the car and set off across the country. After a couple of years, Alex started to grumble about it, but she always came along all the same.”

“That’s lovely,” Lena said. “We never did anything like that. I was sent off on fancy summer camps with other elite rich girls whose families didn’t mind that they existed, but liked to see them as little as possible. Picture a group of fourteen-year-old girls in New York City, and every single one of them has their surname on a building or billboard. It wasn’t terrible, it just - well, it was what it was,” Lena shrugged.

“That sounds… very different,” Kara said.

“Sometimes it was good fun. Often though I would have just been happy to sit my in dorm or hotel room and read, but every day was full of activities.”

“Just like normal camp,” Kara said.

“Did you ever go on summer camp?”

“No,” Kara said. “When I first came here, I didn’t have enough control over my powers, and Alex refused to go alone with me, which was fair enough. Then by time I did have control, I was sort of past it. The family trips more than made up for it though. And the sandwiches are cooked!” Kara said, lifting up the lid of the toasted sandwich press. “Careful, the tomato will be hot. If you want more, I can make more.”

“Thank-you,” Lena said, taking a seat at the kitchen table as Kara brought over their lunches, plus a jug of water and some glasses.

“Did you ever eat sandwiches on your fancy camps?” Kara asked.

“We craved junk food,” Lena said. “Hotdogs, McDonalds, slurpees.”

“I cannot imagine you drinking a slurpee,” Kara laughed, biting into her sandwich.

“Slurpees and pretzels for lunch after an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at the Met Gallery? You better believe it,” Lena smiled, deciding that the weekend was going to be just fine.

…

“This pasta sauce reminds me of Rome,” Lena said, winding another mouthful of pasta on her fork. They’d gone for a long walk by the lake after lunch, working up quite an appetite. The pasta sauce was a fairly simple affair, an onion, two cloves of garlic, and two fresh zucchinis from the garden gently fried with a small squeeze of lemon juice, and some cracked black pepper, served with spaghetti and a lot of parmesan cheese.

“I haven’t been to Rome,” Kara said.

“You’d love it. Just thinking about it is making me want to go back,” Lena said, sipping her wine. They decided that the white wine would go best with the fresh pasta dish. “You’re missing out on the food, like a proper carbonara.”

“I love a good creamy carbonara,” Kara said, slurping her spaghetti.

“Creamy yes, but there should never be any actual cream in carbonara.”

“What, really?”

“Really. Very serious. I think you’d get arrested in Rome if you were caught making carbonara with cream. It’s just guanciale, egg, cheese, and pasta water that makes up the sauce. Served with fresh bread, it’s hard to beat. Unless the competition is other Roman food. You’d love the street food,” Lena said, winding more pasta onto her fork.

“So, you mean pizza, which you know I love?”

“Well, yes, but real Roman street food. Suppli, which are the Roman version of arancini balls, they have gooey cheese in the centre and are so cheap and delicious. Porchetta sliced in front of you and served in focaccia or fresh bread is heavenly. Then it doesn’t matter how much you eat, there’s always room for proper gelato, not the fluffy, artificially coloured and flavoured stuff often found right near major monuments, but the real thing.”

“If it wasn’t the middle of the night in Rome right now,” Kara said, “I’d be there, eating all this food.”

Lena laughed. “You’ll have to go one day. I’ll write you some recommendations. Just because I haven’t been for a while doesn’t mean anything much will have changed. Some of my favourite places have been around for decades, generations even.”

“It would be nice to have a big vacation like that,” Kara said, chasing a slice of zucchini around her bowl with her fork. “Maybe next year. This year though, I just need this. And now I have that dumpling book, so I certainly won’t be getting bored.”

After dinner was finished and the washing up done, they settled in front of the TV, a big bowl of BBQ chips in-between them, each with a blanket over their laps, shoes long since discarded, and Lena having swapped her jeans for pyjama pants. They watched _Love, Wedding, Repeat_ on Netflix, Kara having heard it was set in Rome, and laughed their way through the ridiculousness of it, while working their way through the bowl of chips and the rest of the bottle of white wine.

“That was good,” Lena said when the film finished. “A lot of nonsense, but good fun. And I loved those aerial shots of Rome at the start.”

“It makes me never want to go to a wedding again in my life,” Kara said, “And I’ve been to one that was invaded by Nazis from an alternate dimension.”

“You have some very strange things happen,” Lena laughed, then stood up and stretched and yawned. “Well, I might call it a night. It’s a long drive, and I think we walked half way back to National City this afternoon.”

Kara laughed. “Come on, that was the short walk! I thought we’d go on the long one tomorrow.”

Lena pulled a face, making Kara laugh again.

“I’ll see you in the morning. Feel free to anything in the kitchen at any time.”

“Thanks, Kara. I’ll see you in the morning,” Lena smiled.

“See you in the morning,” Kara grinned, doing the rounds to turn of the lights and lock up before retiring upstairs, feeling extremely content.

…

Lena woke to the sound and smell of frying bacon. A few minutes later she made her way to the kitchen, where Kara was standing by the stove.

“That’s smelling good,” Lena said, pulling out one of the stools at the kitchen bench.

“Since I’ll be missing out on our breakfasts in National City, I figured I should probably learn how to poach eggs myself, so all week I’ve been working on it. How did you sleep?”

“Very well,” Lena said. “You’re becoming quite the chef.”

“Well, I like eating food, and I like being able to eat what I want, so I should probably know how to make what I want. I had a look through the dumpling book before bed last night and it’s so hard to choose what I want to make first. Oh, you’re happy with bacon and eggs for breakfast, right?”

“Of course,” Lena said, “Especially when someone else is making it.”

A few minutes later Kara served up their plates of crispy fried bacon and runny poached eggs on toast, accompanied by freshly brewed coffee. Once the meal was finished, they took their time cleaning up and getting ready before heading out for another walk.

“If I ever come back here,” Lena said, catching her breath at the top of a climb, “I think I’ll need proper hiking shoes and poles.”

Kara laughed, having forgotten that this walk was actually fairly difficult. “Come on, Lena, it’s not that bad!”

“We literally just scrambled up a cliff.”

“Well, the view’s worth it,” Kara said, looking out over the lake and forest beyond.

“True,” Lena agreed, her eyes flicking to Kara. “It is very pretty.”

When the returned to the house, Lena sat on the couch checking her emails while Kara put a wash on, deciding that after a week of letting her clothes build up, it was time to do something about them before Alex or Eliza asked how she was getting on with the washing.

“Do you think it’s hard to make real puff-pastry?” Kara asked, getting the packet of frozen pastry out of the fridge to start making their lunch.

“I’ve never tried. Maybe Google it,” Lena said, looking up from her phone.

“If you hadn’t given me that dumpling book, I might have. I think I’ll stick to frozen.”

“What are you making?” Lena asked.

“Tomato tart with caramelised onion relish and goat’s cheese.”

“Sound delicious.”

“I’ll be back in a sec, just need to pick the tomatoes,” Kara said.

“Can I have a look at this famous garden?” Lena asked.

“Of course,” Kara smiled, slipping her shoes on. “We need to pick some thyme as well.”

Kara gave Lena a tour of the garden, showing her the copious amounts of zucchinis coming, tomatoes so ripe they just fell into your hand when touched, half a dozen different herbs, the fruit trees, and the ornamental flowers.

“Taking care of all this must keep you busy,” Lena said as they headed back inside.

“It feels good though,” Kara said, “Being out in the garden. Most of the care is just weeding and lots of watering of course. And harvesting, which is the fun part. But there’s something about caring for something alive and growing that feels good.”

Lena looked at Kara and smiled. “I understand why you like it here. It’s calm.”

“I’m really glad you could come,” Kara said.

“Me too.”

“Perhaps you could come again?” Kara suggested. “I’m here for a few more weeks, and there’s plenty of room.”

“I’d like that,” Lena said. “A lot.”

“Great,” Kara grinned. “I’m looking forward to it already.”

A few hours later Kara was standing on the porch, waving as Lena drove away, though they’d made plans for her to return the following weekend. Kara pulled out her phone.

**Kara:** Can you come to Midvale tomorrow?

A reply came almost at once.

**Alex:** Why? Did something go wrong with Lena? You can call if you want, I’m at home.

**Kara:** The opposite, everything went really, really well. She’s coming back next weekend.

**Alex:** Great! So, why do you want me to come?

Kara bit her lip and leant agains the bannister.

**Kara:** Because I need to talk to you. Please come.   
**Kara:** Also please can you buy me a bamboo steamer. I’ll pay you back.  
 **Kara:** Two actually.  
 **Kara:** Please.

**Alex:** ?  
 **Alex:** Whatever, if I can find them I guess.

**Kara:** Lena bought me a potsticker cookbook. I want to make EVERYTHING, but need a steamer :D

**Alex:** Fine. I can see you doing the pouty-face. Let me check with J’onn if it’s ok to come tomorrow. I’ll get back to you later. Glad you had a good time with Lena though. xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much everyone for the kudos and comments :)
> 
> Here's some Danvers sisters couch-time.

“Something’s smelling nice,” Alex said, letting herself into the house.

“Alex!” Kara raced over and gave her sister a hug.

“I’ll hug you back in a minute, let me take my things upstairs first. Oh, and this is for you,” she said, handing Kara a shopping bag with the bamboo steamers inside.

“Yes! You’re the best, Alex,” Kara grinned, taking the steamers to the sink to wash them before use. “Did you have a nice ride here?”

“It’s a perfect, blue-sky, sunny summers day, and I got to ride my motorbike through the forest. Of course it was a good drive. What’s for lunch?”

“Zucchini slice,” Kara replied.

“Ooh. The one mom used to make? With the cheese and bacon bits through it?”

“That’s the one,” Kara said. “It needs a couple more minutes in the oven, but it’s almost be done. This is she second time I’ve made it, there are so many zucchinis and I’m running out of ideas. At least it uses three zucchinis, but I’m picking three every day! Please take some with you when you go tomorrow.”

“Will do,” Alex said. “Please let me take my things upstairs, they’re getting heavy and I need the bathroom.”

“Ok, go,” Kara said, going back to check on the slice, not wanting to burn it, but not wanting it to be undercooked either. She set the table with the jug of water and a bottle of ketchup, knowing that Alex would drown her serving in sauce regardless of what Kara said.

A few minutes later Alex reappeared, just as Kara was carefully tipping the slice out of it’s tray and onto the rack to cool for a few minutes before serving.

“I thought we’d be having some potstickers from the famous new book for lunch,” Alex said, kicking off her shoes by the door.

“That’s for dinner. I don’t know how long they’ll take to cook, and I knew you’d want to eat pretty much as soon as you got here.”

“Yes, I do,” Alex said.

“I was pretty eager though, and made them this morning,” Kara admitted. “They’re in the fridge, and look like a total mess, but hopefully they taste all right?”

Alex opened the fridge and looked at the two dining plates full of potstickers. “Well, some of them look ok, and I guess they all look good for a first attempt,” Alex said, closing the fridge.

“I want to perfect them before Lena returns on Friday, and try a few of the different fillings. Get to be guinea pig number one!”

“Lena’s coming back on Friday?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, is that ok?”

“That’s fine,” Alex said, “But you remember that Kelly and I are coming Saturday? We won’t be here until after lunch, because I got us a lunch reservation at the cellar door at Clavant Estate. Their charcuterie grazing boards or whatever they’re called are supposed to be amazing, and don’t worry, I will only have one drink, because I’m driving with Kelly, so I’m not going to do anything stupid,” Alex said, looking at Kara. “Now, can we eat that slice, or do I have to starve?”

Kara grabbed a knife out of the draw. “How much?” she asked, hovering the knife over the slice.

“Bit more, bit more, yep, that much,” Alex said, supervising.

Kara cut the slice, steam coming out as she put it on a plate for Alex before cutting a piece for herself.

“So, if I’m your first guinea pig with the potstickers,” Alex said, taking a seat in her usual spot at the table, “Who’s the second?”

“Barry Allen,” Kara smiled. “He’s coming for lunch on Wednesday. I promised him potstickers and a run around the lake.”

“A run or a race?” Alex asked, drowning her slice in ketchup, just as Kara had expected.

Kara chuckled, taking a seat and pouring them both a glass of water. “Both? It’ll be fun to hang out without any universe-shattering events or general bad-guys to contend with.”

“Ah, so you’ve let all the bad-guys know not to attack Star City or Midvale at lunchtime on Wednesday, then?” Alex teased.

“Shut-up,” Kara laughed, squeezing a sensible amount of ketchup onto her slice.

Once lunch was eaten and cleaned up, Kara collapsed onto the couch.

“You gunna tell me why I’m really here?” Alex asked, moving Kara’s legs so she could sit down. “Because I don’t think it’s because you need help eating all the zucchinis.”

“It’s about Lena,” Kara said, looking up at the ceiling, resting her feet in Alex’s lap.

“What about Lena?”

Kara sighed. “When did you first realise you liked Kelly?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Alex said, as realisation dawned on her. “Oh. Oooooh. Oh, ok, Kara, I - not necessarily a great comparison, because I had only known Kelly for a couple of weeks when we started dating. Neither of us had much to loose in regards to our relationship, we just decided to see were it would go. Obviously, it’s ended up going somewhere really great but… when you say this is about Lena…?”

Kara sighed again, but didn’t respond.

“Kara, I - what…” Alex paused to compose herself. “Are you coming out to me?” she asked gently.

There was silence for a few moments before Kara responded. “What if she doesn’t like me like that? We’re just getting good again, really good, and what if I say something and it ruins everything? Admitting something like that… it’s not like I can take it back. Once it’s out there… I could just keep things as they are. I should. Just - just be friends. Best friends. That’s ok. Right?”

“Sit up,” Alex said, holding out her hand and pulling Kara into a sitting position. Alex folded her legs and turned sideways on the couch. “Kara, you effectively just had a twenty-four hour date with the woman where you cooked for her and went on hikes together and watched a cheesy movie. She’s coming back for more this weekend. I think… I understand your apprehension, I do. But Lena coming back to help us with the whole Lex fiasco the other month, and… I was ready to give up on her, you know that, Lena knows that. I’m not proud of it, but I could see her hurting you and I wanted to protect you.”

“I gave up on her too,” Kara breathed. “But she came back…”

“That’s just it, Kara,” Alex said, taking Kara’s hands in hers. “Lena came back. She left Lex and his awful, manipulative ways and came back to _you_. And she could have betrayed us, betrayed you, but she didn’t. She fought for us, with us. She used her body as shield to protect you from kryptonite. That - I don’t know what that is, but it’s a lot more than just friendship.”

“What do I do?” Kara asked.

Alex shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong person. I have some hook-up tips I learnt from the Sara Lance School Of One-Night Stands, but getting a girlfriend? Asking someone out? Especially someone with a history like your’s and Lena’s? Sorry, but I have no idea, Kara.”

Kara pouted. “But you - you’re ok with me… liking Lena? Like that? I don’t know if I’ve felt like that about any other girls, or any other guys either, really, and I don’t know what label to use or…”

“Obviously I’m ok with you liking girls!” Alex grinned, “Kara, I am thrilled! And who cares about labels, you’ll figure that out with time, and if it changes, well that’s a choice for you and you alone.”

“But I handled your coming out… less than great,” Kara said. “And you’re so good…”

“So? It was fine. It’s in the past and we both… look, I love you, and I will always love you, regardless of who you love. I will protect you, possibly even be overprotective, because you are my little sister and - I am so proud of you, Kara.”

Kara smiled, her eyes glistening with tears. “So even though I don’t know what to do, everything is gunna be ok?”

“Everything is gunna be ok,” Alex said, pulling Kara into a hug.

“Do you want to make apple and blackberry pie with me?” Kara asked, holding onto Alex. “There’s a lot of blackberries from the garden and making pie to eat on my own feels kinda selfish.”

“Of course I will help you make pie,” Alex said. “You’re kneading the dough with your super-muscles, I’ll cut the apples.”

…

Alex sat with her feet up on the couch, and scraped the last of her second helping of apple and blackberry pie with ice-cream from her bowl, happily having worked her way into a food coma. _Monty Don’s French Gardens_ was playing on Netflix, but neither of the sisters were paying much attention to the program, it was just nice to have on in the background.

“That is delicious,” Alex said, placing her bowl on the coffee table.

“You don’t seem very surprised,” Kara said, having already finished her second helping of dessert.

“Why? You followed the recipes and made an amazing dinner. Sure, some of the potstickers fell apart, but they still tasted great, and you’ll fold them better next time. And I am so happy you found mom’s old recipe scrapbook. We did something wrong with the pastry that meant the bottom was a bit soggy, but that top and filling taste exactly the same as how grandma and mom used to make it.”

“I don’t mean about the food,” Kara said. “Though it all was pretty delicious, even if not quite as pretty as it could have been.”

“First time using the steamers, too,” Alex said, sinking into the couch, absentmindedly watching the TV as Monty Don strolled though lush green grounds and talked about fountains. “Like everything, there’s some technique in using those. Or timing, or whatever. By the weekend, you’ll be a hundred times better.”

“I don’t, I…” Kara sighed. “You didn’t seem very surprised earlier. When I said about Lena. About me and… liking Lena.”

“Did you… want me to be more surprised?”

“Did you suspect?”

Alex sighed. “Maybe a little bit,” she confessed and gave Kara an encouraging smile.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kara asked, leaning into Alex.

Alex wrapped her arms around Kara and rested her head on her shoulder. “Because outing people isn’t cool. Maggie more-or-less forced me out, and I admit that I did need a bit of a push, but… I wasn’t going to do that to you.”

Kara nodded, comfortable in Alex’s embrace. “How long have you suspected?” she asked.

“A couple of years, I guess.”

“A couple of years?!” Kara exclaimed tilting her head to look up at Alex.

“Why not? You two can barely keep your eyes of each other, when you fight it’s like the end of the world but you keep finding your way back to each other, no matter what drives you apart. And when Mxy came and all his tapes were about Lena? Kara, I - that’s not just ‘friendship’. That’s a lot more.”

“I wouldn’t have minded if you said something,” Kara said.

“If you want to be called out, you need to hang with the Legends more often. They would have pushed you and Lena together years ago.”

“Like Sara and Ava?” Kara asked, thinking of all the stories Sara Lance had told of her wonderful girlfriend during their time stuck at the Vanishing Point. It then occurred to Kara that the vast majority of her stories starred Alex or Lena and the small smirk on Sara’s face whenever Kara mentioned Lena.

“Exactly.”

“Why did it take me so long to figure this out?” Kara mumbled.

“Too busy saving the world?” Alex suggested kindly. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes, what matters is that you figure it out in the end.”

Kara sighed and nestled closer to Alex. “I think Lena and I were married.”

“What?!” Alex exclaimed.

“In one of the possible timelines Mxy showed me. I - I think we were married. That was the good timeline. Well, it was until everything went super badly wrong.”

Alex smiled and kissed the top of Kara’s head. “Well, I call dibs on being your maid of honour when you eventually do marry her in this timeline.”

“Really?” Kara asked. “You - you’re really ok with this? I mean, the possibility of this? A Super and a Luthor, it’s kind of… well, it seems impossible but…”

“But you spent the morning making potstickers from the cookbook said Luthor gave you as a gift for staying at your place for the weekend. Maybe, Kara, despite all the shit we’ve been through, this is the timeline where it finally works. I know it’s scary, but we have to have hope, right?”

“I still don’t know how to tell her.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Alex said. “Whatever happens and whatever it’s worth, you’ll always have me.”

“It’s worth everything,” Kara said, making herself more comfortable in Alex’s embrace as they turned their attention to the TV.


	4. Chapter 4

Halfway through a salad sandwich with xtomatoes and lettuce leaves freshly picked from the garden, and soft cheese from a local diary, Kara’s phone pinged as a message came through.

**Lena:** 2:30 meeting cancelled, leaving the office shortly, need to pop home first. Be there about 6, depending on traffic ♡

Kara’s heart leapt a beat and she grinned at the message.

**Kara:** Great! Drive safe, see you soon xx

Kara spent the afternoon tidying up the house and making chicken and cilantro dumplings for dinner, deciding on that recipe given the large amount of cilantro in the garden. It was easy enough to make the dumplings and have them resting in the fridge, ready to cook once Lena had arrived and settled in. Kara had no idea how to tell Lena about her feelings towards her, or if she was even ready too. Kara decided just to see what happened, and let the weekend pan out as it would.

It was almost half-past six when Lena arrived, and Kara greeted her with a smile and a hug. Kara was almost jealous at how cool Lena looked in her classic sunglasses, hair pulled into a messy bun, no doubt to keep it from blowing about as Lena had the windows down, the sleeves of her pale blue pinstripe dress-shirt rolled up to her elbows, skinny navy trousers, and bright pink Converse low riders. Kara felt sloppy in sport shorts and comfortable striped t-shirt.

“The traffic leaving National City was atrocious,” Lena said, popping open the back of the car to get her bags. “I had to go home to change my shoes and get my bags, and I think that slight delay easily added another half an hour to the trip. If I hadn’t left the office until after 4, I’d still be stuck in the city centre.”

“It is meant to be a nice weekend,” Kara said, slinging Lena’s laptop bag over her shoulder and carrying her carry-on luggage sized suitcase into the house, while Lena grabbed her handbag and locked the car.

“And the entire population of National City seems to be heading to to the coast to enjoy it,” Lena said, finishing Kara’s thought. “At least once I was out of the city limits the traffic settled down. It was very pleasant driving through the forest with the windows down.”

“I’m glad you got here safely,” Kara said, leading the way to the guest bedroom. “When would you like dinner? I think it’ll take me about twenty minutes to cook the dumplings.”

“We’re having dumplings?’ Lena asked, smiling a smile that lit up her whole face.

“For the book you gave me. Chicken and cilantro dumplings.”

“Sounds delicious,” Lena said, opening up her suitcase and pulling out two six-packs of beer, a bottle of Prosecco, and another brown paper bag sticky-taped shut with the National City Central Bookstore logo on it. “Hostess gifts.”

“Lena, it’s too much! You gave me a gift last week.”

“Which was for my stay last week,” Lena said. “Take them. I know Kelly and Alex are coming tomorrow, and they will appreciate my choices in alcohol.”

“I still have the bottle of red from last week,” Kara said, “And these beers would probably actually go well with the dumplings.”

“I thought summer beer would go down nicely, being seasonally accurate and all. And don’t stress about the Prosecco, it’s $15 a bottle but it is some of the nicest Prosecco I’ve had in years.”

“Thank-you, Lena,” Kara said, gathering up the alcohol and the brown paper bag. “Really.”

“You deserve it,” Lena smiled.

“Dinner in twenty minutes?” Kara asked.

“Sounds perfect.”

Kara returned to the kitchen, putting the drinks in the fridge before tearing open the paper bag, finding a copy of the novel-length _Lonely Planet Rome_ guidebook. There was a sticky-note on the front in Lena’s handwriting:

_I hope you don’t mind that I’ve circled some of my favourite places._

_Maybe it’s time to make those vacation dreams a reality._

♡ _L._

Kara flicked through the book, finding a page with a shop circled in yellow highlighter texta, and a quick hand-written note next to it. Kara grinned, looking forward to finding all of Lena’s tips added into the book. “Thanks for the guidebook!” Kara called. “Now I really do have to go travelling.”

“You’ll love Rome,” Lena called back.

Kara put the book aside and got the plates of uncooked dumplings out of the fridge. “Sorry it’s not pasta for dinner, I kind of feel like that now.”

Lena appeared from the guest room, having changed into a black t-shirt and her pyjama shorts. She sat down on one of the stools at the counter. “Maybe tomorrow night?” she suggested.

“I wanted to impress Alex with more dumplings. She came over early in the week, and my attempt at them then was less than successful. I mean they tasted fine, but they looked rather ordinary. Though when my friend Barry visited mid-week they were definitely looking better, and he challenged me to a competition to see who could fold ten the quickest. Technically it was kind of a draw, because he finished first the first time, but had to re-do half of them because they fell apart, whereas mine actually stayed together.”

“Woah, Kara, those look professional!” Lena exclaimed, seeing the plates of green dumplings sitting on the bench as Kara ducked down to find the correct pan.

“You think? They’re better than my first attempt, but - ”

“Honestly Kara, those look amazing. Definitely worth sitting in the National City Friday afternoon exodus traffic for,” Lena gushed.

“Hopefully they taste as good as they look,” Kara said.

“I’m sure they will,” Lena said.

…

Lena lay on the bed in the guest room with her laptop on her knees, replying to emails. Kara had popped out to get some supplies for lunch, and Lena had migrated to the guest room, away from the baking sunshine. For breakfast, Kara had made them French toast topped with blackberries from the garden, lightly cooked in their own juices and a bit of sugar to make them jammy and delicious. They’d then gone for a walk for well over an hour, returning to the house just as it the sun’s heat was really beginning to beat down. There was something about this place, Lena thought, a homeliness and softness to it she wasn’t used to, but that she very much enjoyed, not to mention Kara’s company.

“Lena, I’m back!” Kara called from the kitchen.

“Ok,” Lena called in return. It occurred to her that she hadn’t heard the front door open, but Kara probably used the French doors that led out into the garden. “Just a minute.”

“No rush,” Kara said. “I’ll get everything sorted.”

Lena closed her laptop, put it aside and swung her legs off the bed. She wasn’t going to let Kara get away with doing everything. “What do you need me to do? I can - oh. Umm, Kara, when you said you were popping out to get something for lunch…?”

“It’s an early lunch, I know, but thankfully everything is open late on a Saturday night and - ”

“Kara,” Lena said, breaking into a grin as she tore open one of the paper bags Kara had returned with. “Did you just go to Rome to get our lunch?”

“Well, I - last night I had a look through the guidebook, figured out the time differences and whether it was doable or not. I bought the last five suppli in the shop and got three slices of pizza, which I figured we could cut in half and share. There’s a porchetta roll each and - ”

“I’m getting the Prosecco,” Lena said, opening the fridge. “I can’t believe you flew to Rome to get our lunch! Kara, this - this is amazing!”

“I thought we could eat out in the garden? Have a picnic,” Kara suggested.

“It’s not quite Villa D’Este,” Lena said, holding the bottle of Prosecco by the neck and getting a couple of plastic cups, “But it is certainly the next best thing,” she grinned at Kara.

“I don’t know if Eliza has a picnic blanket, but we can use a couple of beach towels.”

“That’s fine by me,” Lena said, placing the Prosecco and cups on the kitchen bench. “Let me just grab my hat and sunglasses.”

“I should probably do the same,” Kara said.

“You absorb sunlight,” Lena laughed.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t look cool in sunglasses,” Kara said.

Five minutes later Lena had applied sunscreen and reappeared in the kitchen with her hat and sunglasses, only to find it empty of Kara and the food and drink. The French doors were open and Lena went outside, finding Kara setting everything up on the grass. Lena smiled as she crossed the garden.

“I quickly googled Villa D’Este,” Kara said as Lena sat down beside her. “Now _that_ is a garden.”

“It’s mostly just fountains, but it is pretty amazing,” Lena said, making herself comfortable and opening the Prosecco. “Great views too. No, lake though.”

“I’ll have to put it on the must-see list.”

“Definitely,” Lena said, pouring them both a drink, “It’s worth the half-day trip from Rome.”

“This all smells amazing,” Kara said, cutting the pizza slices in half.

“I cannot believe you went to Rome to get our lunch,” Lena said. “I - I’m stunned. I - this is perfect, Kara. I love it.”

Kara beamed. “Well, Alex and Kelly are having their fancy lunch at the winery, so why let them have all the fun?” Kara wondered if Lena could hear her heart beating. All Kara wanted to do was pull Lena into her lap and hold her arm around her, having to awkwardly hold her lunch in the other hand to avoid spilling it all over Lena. Alas, they sat across from one another, working their way through the casual feast that Kara had supplied.

“Wineries are nice,” Lena said, licking her fingers as she finished the last suppli ball, “But I’d choose this any day.”

“Do you want any more pizza?” Kara asked.

“Nope,” Lena said, lying down. “I don’t even think I need dinner.”

“Aww, come on, Lena! I was going to make dumplings for Alex and Kelly.”

“It’s possible they won’t want dinner either.”

“Well, I’m going to make them anyway, then when you all smell them cooking, you’ll eat them,” Kara said, picking up the last slice of pizza. “You’re right about this food, by the way. It is amazing. Porchetta rolls are a lunchtime revelation.”

Lena chuckled and rolled onto her side to look at Kara sitting cross-legged, stuffing as much of the slice of pizza into her mouth at once as possible. “Thank-you for doing this,” Lena said softly.

“No worries,” Kara said, her mouth full of food.

“Really. I - it’s really special. I - Kara, I - ”

Kara’s phone pinged and Kara forced down her mouthful of food. “Ooh, message from Alex. Wow, that grazing plate does look pretty amazing,” she said, showing Lena the photo.

“Did you get a picture of our meal?” Lena asked, deciding that what she had wanted to say could wait.

“What if I send her a picture of all the paper wrappers?” Kara asked, taking a quick photo of the mess surrounding them and sending it off to Alex. “Now to wait for her to complain that I never go to Rome to buy her lunch.”

“I think I need a nap after all that food,” Lena said.

“You can stay here, I’ll clean up and - ”

“No,” Lena said, grabbing Kara’s wrist. “Stay here. We can both clean up in a bit. Besides, you need to help me finish that Prosecco.”

Kara moved some of the rubbish out of the way and lay down as Lena propped herself up, refilled their cups and wished it wasn’t so impossibly hard to say what she really wanted to.


	5. Chapter 5

“We’re here!” Alex announced, letting herself and Kelly into the house.

“We’re having some quiet time,” Kara said, lifting her head up. She and Lena were lying on a couch each, both engrossed in a book. Kara had heard the car pull up, but the afternoon was hot and the house was a much Alex’s home as her’s, so Kara had left Alex to organise herself.

“Excellent idea,” Kelly said. “I need a lie down.”

“Babe, you had three glasses of wine.”

“Yes, I did,” Kelly said. “As well as more food than I eat in a week, plus it’s about 100 degrees out. That winery was amazing, by the way, but now I need a lie-down.”

Alex laughed. “You are the biggest light-weight. Come on, I’ll get you settled, then Kara Danvers find some shoes, because you and I are going for a walk. Lena, you’re welcome to join us.”

“I am quite happy to stay horizontal on the couch,” Lena said. “It isn’t often I spend a Saturday afternoon lying about.”

“Go team-naps!” Kelly said.

Lena chuckled. “Definitely.”

“Alex, we can’t go for a huge walk, because Lena and I are going to make the dinner soon,” Kara said, swinging her legs off the couch.

“That’s fine,” Alex said. “After that lunch and the drive I just need to stretch my legs. I’ll go and put Kelly to bed, then be straight back down.”

“You’re implying that I’m drunk,” Kelly said.

“Only a little bit,” Alex smirked, wrapping her arm around Kelly’s waist, “It is a fact that you cannot hold your liquor.”

“Plus it’s about 120 degrees, which doesn’t help,” Kelly added.

“It’s about 90, but sure,” Alex smiled, giving Kelly a kiss on the cheek.

A few minutes later, Alex came back downstairs, having changed into sport shorts and sneakers. “Ok, Kelly’s laid out on the bed with one of those serial killer podcasts she likes on, and a big glass of water beside the bed. Kara, you ready?”

“Just finding some socks,” Kara said, grabbing a clean pair of socks from the unfolded pile of clean washing. She quickly pulled them on, followed by her sneakers and grabbed her hat and sunglasses.

“We’ll be half an hour or so,” Kara said to Lena.

“Take your time,” Lena smiled.

Kara nodded and hurried after Alex, who was already making her way down to the lake. “What’s going on?” she asked as she caught up to Alex.

“You flew to Rome to get her lunch?!” Alex exclaimed and giggled.

“So?” Kara pouted.

“Kara!” Alex laughed. “Oh my gosh, you two are the worst. Completely hopeless. Lena is the smartest person we know, so surely she understands that you like her, and she clearly likes you.”

“Well, I - she - maybe we just…” Kara stammered and looked to Alex for help.

Alex raised her eyebrows and shook her head in mock disappointment, failing to hide her smirk. “Hopeless. Both of you.”

…

“What are you doing?” Kelly asked. Alex was standing by the window with her phone out. They were staying in Eliza’s room, as Lena had the guest room and Alex decreed it would be weird if they shared the sister’s childhood bedroom with Kara.

“Spying on Kara and sending cute photos of her to mom,” Alex said. Kara and Lena were giving the garden its evening watering.

“First they make dinner, now they’re watering the garden together.”

“That makes them sound like little old ladies. Next they’ll be sitting together doing their knitting.”

“Kara might have taken that up as a hobby as well,” Kelly said.

“I think she’s busy enough with cooking and gardening and fawning over Lena,” Alex said. “At least the weather’s been nice to allow her to get into the garden every day.”

“I’ve read a bit about that recently,” Kelly said.

“The weather?” Alex asked, pocketing her phone.

“No, horticultural therapy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of articles, and there’s certainly more out there than just what’s crossed my inbox. There’s been research into using gardening as a form of therapy for people with mental health conditions, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, helping older people stay active, and helping those who have been seriously ill get active again.”

“Are you getting all psychologist on my baby sister?” Alex teased, giving Kelly’s hip a bump.

“No, I’m just saying that Kara has found this as a hobby, and she seems to be reaping the benefits without knowing about the research behind it. You have to admit Alex, she looks happier and more relaxed than she has for months.”

Alex nodded. “This year has bee pretty tough for her. Crisis in particular knocked her about.”

“Working in the garden can help people reconnect with nature, with their roots, if you will.”

“Oh no, don’t start on the gardening puns,” Alex said.

Kelly laughed. “Look at Kara grow. And Lena. Watch them grow together.”

Alex pretended to gag. “Sorry, I’m allergic to puns that bad and any soppiness involving my sister.”

“What is going on with the two of them, though?” Kelly asked. “I mean, that - they honestly look like an old married couple watering their vegetables.”

“They really do,” Alex said, wrapping her arm around Kelly’s waist. “But they’re both too scared to tell the other how they feel, so they’re on the path of saying nothing and therefore getting nowhere.”

“They look like they’re getting somewhere,” Kelly said, watching the other two women. Lena had just returned from the water tank with a full watering can. Kara turned around and started watering Lena’s feet, pretending she hadn’t seen her there. Lena laughed and skipped backwards, swapped watering cans with Kara and returned to the tank.

“They still have to say it,” Alex said. “Otherwise it’s just - I don’t know. I spoke to Kara again when we went for a walk. She flew to Rome to get their lunch, then they spent half the afternoon making dumplings together. Now they’re watering plants and I kinda want to yell out ‘just kiss!’ but…”

“But that’s massively inappropriate.”

“Exactly,” Alex said. “You’re right though, about Kara looking better. She’s definitely more relaxed, she smiles more quickly and easily. I hadn’t noticed how tightly wound she was. Same with Lena, and she only drops by on weekends. Imagine if she stayed longer.”

“Why doesn’t she?” Kelly asked.

Alex shrugged. “Work, I guess. Although, I might suggest to Kara that she suggest to Lena that she comes back next Thursday. Take a day off work and spend a long weekend here. The extra time might be just what they need.”

“That could work,” Kelly said. “And without us intruding…”

“Exactly,” Alex smirked. “I just hope that when Kara comes back to National City all this good work isn’t undone,” she sighed.

“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Kelly said. “Maybe buy her a couple of house plants.”

Alex leant against Kelly’s side. “It’s always been my worry: how do I protect the unbreakable girl? I hate it when she’s hurting because I feel like I’ve failed her somehow. I know we’re both adults and Kara has to make her own decisions about her health and wellbeing, but… somehow, she’ll always be that scared kid on a new planet who had no idea what was going on. And I didn’t even like her when she first came. But she - she still needed me.”

“And she still does,” Kelly said. “We can’t protect our families from everything, however much we want to. We have to let them make their own decisions and their own mistakes. But maybe we have a strategy for Kara now. If we see that things are getting too much for her, we can encourage her to come out here for a night or a week or a month.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Alex said. “Once she’s back home. I don’t want her to think we’re talking about all this now.”

“She’ll probably guess though.”

“Oh, she’ll definitely guess,” Alex said, “And if she wasn’t so absorbed in Lena’s company, she could probably hear us though the windows. Come on, let’s go get some ice-cream before those two finish up and eat the lot.”

…

Lena stood with her back to Kara as she watered the lettuces, glad she had something to do before she said what she’d be wanting to for some time. “Lex would scream at me. Get right up in my face and he - he would yell in my face.” There was the other thing that Lena wanted to talk about as well, but felt this had to come first.

“When you were kids?” Kara asked, taken aback by Lena’s sudden confession.

“Yes,” Lena said. She’d been wanting to talk to Kara about this for a while, but never found the right time, or always found an excuse or reason not to. “But it never stopped. The last time he yelled at me was the day before I turned up at your apartment. I - I couldn’t do it anymore. I wouldn’t.”

Kara took a moment to process what Lena was telling her. She could hear Lena’s heart pounding with anxiety. Her watering can emptied and she put it down. Kara’s protective instincts were kicking in, but there was nothing she could do now. That was all in the past. “Lena, I - I’m sorry, I-”

“You didn’t know. It wasn’t your fault. Well, sometimes he screamed about Supergirl, but that’s not your fault. I know now it wasn’t mine either, but it often felt like it was.” Lena watched the water fall steadily and rhythmically over the lettuces. She knew Kara was watching her.

“When you say he yelled in your face…?”

“It’s what you’re imagining. Lex got right up in my face and yelled. Being taller than him when in heels didn’t make it any less frightening. All siblings fight and yell at each other, but this wasn’t like that. It was a power-play. It was…” Lena bit her lip. “It was bad,” she finished softly.

Kara stood beside Lena. “I’m sorry that happened.”

Lena shrugged, the last of the water trickling out. “I thought if I kept working, if I worked harder than ever, I could - I don’t know. Make myself forget? Work past it all? I thought stopping would make it worse, but it didn’t. It hasn’t. I needed to slow down. Now I - I think need a vacation. A long one. Hiring a house on Lake Como for a few weeks is feeling like an increasingly good idea. I’m sure the place I have in mind has a kitchen garden, too.”

“That sounds nice,” Kara said, looking across Eliza’s garden. “You might be neighbours with George Clooney for a week.”

Lena chuckled.

“Would you like to come back here next weekend?” Kara asked. She’d overheard parts of Alex and Kelly’s conversation, and decided to claim this idea of Alex’s as her own. “On Thursday, even. Make a long weekend of it. I promise not to complain if you spend half of Friday on your laptop answering emails and doing Zoom calls or whatever. I’ll make you dumplings for lunch.”

“No more lunches from Rome?”

“Or fly to Rome to pick something up, if that’s what you’d prefer. Or Singapore. Or Tokyo. Or Paris. Or - anywhere. I’d have to check the timezones, of course, to make sure it’s not the middle of the night.”

Lena looked at Kara and smiled, a huge weight off her shoulders. “I’d like that. Guess I’ll have to put my order in.”

Kara grinned. “So you’ll come on Thursday?”

“I’ll check my diary and see how early in the afternoon I can leave the office,” Lena said. “I, umm… thank-you. For listening.”

“Anytime,” Kara said, gently nudging her shoulder against Lena’s. “Whatever you need, Lena, whether it’s fancy foreign food or someone to listen, I want to be that person for you.”

Lena stole a quick glance at Kara before turning back to the garden. “I know you have Alex, but I’m happy to be that person for you too. I - I’d like to.”

“I’d like that too,” Kara said. “And speaking of Alex, if we don’t go inside right now, she and Kelly are going to eat all the ice-cream, and I bought a tub of Irish Cream Brownie Haagen Dazs just for you too.”

“In that case, lead the way,” Lena said, discarding her watering can beside Kara’s. Neither of them made any comment when Lena’s hand slipped into Kara’s as they made their way across the lawn.


	6. Chapter 6

Lena, Alex and Kelly left shortly after breakfast of bacon and/or eggs on Sunday morning as rain for forecast later in the day, and they all wanted to be off the winding forest roads before the wet weather set in. Kara had a quiet day tidying up the house, reading, and generally pottering about. She made herself enough potstickers to feed four, enjoying the process of folding the little parcels and listening to the rain fall outside. At least she wouldn’t have to water the garden today.

Having eaten half the potstickers, and saved the others for lunch tomorrow, Kara sat on the couch with the empty bowl in her lap, watching the rain fall. The dark clouds made it feel later in the evening than it really was. Kara had long since received messages from Alex and Lena that they were safely back in National City, with Lena also informing her that she’d be able to leave the office around 4 o’clock on Thursday to return to Midvale.

Kara sighed, placed the bowl on the coffee table and pulled her knees up to her chest. She had to tell Lena how she really felt, but that was so much easier said than done. Kara didn’t know what to do with the information about Lex screaming at Lena. She couldn’t punch the past. Kara didn’t know how they had ended up holding hands, or what to make of that. Alex and Kelly either hadn’t seen or chose not to say anything. For the rest of Saturday evening, the women had sat on the couches, eating too much ice-cream and laughing and eventually Alex pulled out a battered Scrabble board. Lena had grabbed a bottle of wine, and they’d enjoyed a couple of increasingly silly rounds of Scrabble before bed.

The days drifted by, and soon enough it was Thursday afternoon and Kara received a message from Lena saying she was leaving the office, and would see Kara in a couple of hours. Kara picked a bunch of roses from the garden and put them on the kitchen table, plus a small mixed posy, which she placed in the guest bedroom.

Lena arrived just before seven, and Kara hurried out to greet her, pulling Lena into a bearhug before she could even close the car door.

“It’s good to see you too,” Lena smiled, hugging Kara back. “This probably sounds strange, but I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Kara said, realising that was true as the words came out. “I’ve made a big batch of potstickers, so I hope you’re hungry.”

“Starving,” Lena said, letting go of Kara someone regretfully.

They took Lena’s bags inside and Lena quickly changed into something more comfortable while Kara served up the dinner.

“And I know you’ll protest, but I bought you something,” Lena said, placing a gift bag on the kitchen counter.

“Lena! I - just eat your potstickers,” Kara said, pretending to be annoyed, when really she was anything but. They gorged themselves on the potstickers, Lena complimenting Kara’s cooking over and over, saying that she’d put their favourite National City haunts out of business if she kept cooking like this.

After dinner they played a few rounds of Guess Who?, enjoying the simplicity of the game before retiring to bed fairly early, as Lena had online meetings for most of the next day, and couldn’t stay up playing games all night. As Kara got ready for bed, her mind raced. When should she tell Lena? How? When they’re eating? Once they’d finished a meal? Tomorrow? Saturday? Sunday?

Kara sighed and was about to climb into bed when she remembered the gift from Lena that was still on the kitchen counter. Kara quietly went downstairs to retrieve it. The guest bedroom door was closed and the light was off. Kara looked inside the gift-bag. She smiled as she pulled out a bottle of Prosecco and put it in the fridge for another day, and took the brown paper bag from National City Central Bookstore back upstairs with her. Kara sat down on her bed and pulled out a copy of the picture book _Have You Filled A Bucket Today?_ Kara had seen the book in the store, but never thought about it outside of being a children’s story.

Kara climbed into bed, turned on her bedside light and read the story. On inside of the back cover was a note in Lena’s familiar handwriting:

_Someone at work mentioned this book, as their child’s class had read it at kindergarten, and the idea of it reminded me of you. You fill so many buckets with your kindness, both as Kara and Supergirl. I hope you’ll always be here to do so for me, as you can do so with just a smile. I’m sorry for all the times I’ve dipped into your bucket, and forgive you those times you’ve done as such to mine. Being with you makes me so happy, Kara, and your being here makes the world a much better place for everyone. Love always, Lena xx_

_…_

The morning was a rush as Kara made fluffy pancakes with fresh berries and white choc-chips for breakfast while Lena quickly got her top-half ready for her first meeting at 7:30, in order to catch colleagues working in Vienna before they finished up for the day. Kara had to admire how slick and professional Lena looked from the waist-up with her hair pulled into a neat ponytail, her make-up immaculate, and crisp business shirt tucked into her floral satin pyjama shorts, and fluffy multi-coloured slippers on her feet, though of course her colleagues couldn’t see those.

Kara felt very domestic cleaning up after breakfast, listening to Lena’s online meeting in the good sitting room that was hardly used. Lena had almost back-to-back meetings for hours, with just enough time to get a coffee or use the bathroom between each one. At one stage she changed from her pyjama bottoms into comfy grey Under Armour leggings, padding around in bare feet.

“Do you have a break for lunch?” Kara asked, poking her head into the sitting room during one such short break.

“Depends how long this next meeting goes for,” Lena said, “Then there’s only one more for the day, so I’ll be done with meetings by half-past two at the latest, then I’ll need to deal with some emails.”

“So I should make zucchini slice and you’ll eat it when you’re ready,” Kara said.

“I can eat it in the meeting,” Lena said, “It’s just a management meeting with some of the department heads from Metropolis, Gotham, and National City.”

“Great,” Kara said.

“Sorry I’m not being a lot of fun right now,” Lena said, “But for what it’s worth, I’d rather be doing this in my leggings at this lovely old desk than in heels at the office. Also the catering here is much better.”

Kara smiled. “I knew you’d have to work today. What do you want for dinner?”

“Pizza?” Lena suggested.

“Homemade?” Kara asked, “Or from somewhere in particular? I can only get food from Europe for lunch; timezones mean it’s too late in the evening.”

“Actually, there was this amazing pizza place in Vancouver that I went to when I were there for a conference a couple of months ago,” Lena said. “It was in Gastown, had an Italian-sounding name. I’ll look it up.”

“Let me do the detective work,” Kara said.

“Thanks,” Lena said as her laptop pinged. “Better get back to the grind. Thanks so much, Kara.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Kara said, closing the door on her way out.

…

“I am calling it a day,” Lena said, appearing from the sitting room around half-past three, her laptop and notebook under her arm. “Would it be all right if we went for a walk? After all the sitting down, it’d be nice to move. But no walks up any mountains.”

Kara chuckled. “A walk along the lakefront, then.”

“Perfect,” Lena said. “I’ll get changed and we can go.”

“And Lena,” Kara said, “About the b- ”

“One moment, Kara, nature calls.”

“Ok,” Kara said, and went to find her sneakers. She felt as though every time she was about to say something important to Lena, there was an interruption of some sort. Never mind, Kara told herself as she tied up her shoes. Lena was here, she was done with work for the day, and they had a lovely afternoon ahead of them.

Lena appeared a few minutes later, having swapped her business shirt for a tank-top and found her sneakers and sunglasses. They both grabbed an apple, then headed out for a walk. Lena spent most of the walk debriefing from her day of conference calls and annoying emails, and it occurred to Kara that Lena seldom had the chance to do this. To complain about slow internet speeds, annoying colleagues and clients and contractors, and emails worded in such a way that they made no sense, or you couldn’t tell whether the sender actually wanted a response, or just to rant. HR issues, some problem with the fire sprinklers in the Metropolis building, finance getting frustrated at new taxation legislation. Kara didn’t have much input, but she noticed Lena didn’t need it. She just needed someone to listen.

“Gosh, we’re almost back, and I’ve just ranted at you about work the whole time,” Lena said as they neared the house.

“That’s ok,” Kara said. “I love hearing about hygiene issues in the men’s bathroom, and OHS concerns in your contractor’s Milanese factory.”

Lena laughed. “I’m so sorry. That must all be so boring for you to listen to.”

“It’s fine, really. I’m happy to listen to whatever you need to talk about.”

“What if we talk about what to order off the menu for dinner?” Lena asked.

“I was thinking a pizza each, plus every appetiser,” Kara said.

Lena laughed.

“What? I’m serious!” Kara pouted.

“I know,” said Lena, “That’s why it’s funny.”

…

After dinner was eaten and half the bottle of Prosecco drunk, Lena and Kara tidied up in the kitchen together, Lena washing the dishes and Kara putting them away.

“I still say that you’re my guest, and you don’t have to worry about helping me with the cleaning up,” Kara said.

“And I say that it’s only polite that I do help, as this is my third weekend in a row staying here, so it really would be rude not to pitch in,” Lena said, rinsing out the last glass and handing it to Kara. She pulled the plug out of the sink and took off the rubber gloves.

“Well in that case, you can help me weed the vegetables tomorrow.”

“So long as we get lunch from Cafe Sushi in Cambridge, I will help you with whatever chores you like,” Lena said, leaning against the counter.

“You’re getting very used to this whole Kara Provides Fancy Food thing,” Kara said, putting away the last of the dishes.

“You started it,” Lena smirked.

“I’m glad I did,” said Kara, hanging up the tea-towel. “But we’re making dumplings for dinner.”

“Deal.”

Kara looked up and noticed she was standing very close to Lena. Without thinking, she leant forward and gave Lena a peck on the lips, then pulled away, blushing violently. Lena leant forward and kissed Kara more purposefully on the lips. Kara was too stunned to respond.

Lena took a step back. “Is there any ice-cream? At least we don’t have to worry about Alex and Kelly stealing it all this week,” she said, smiling.

“Obviously I bought more,” Kara said, her senses slowly returning to her as she opened the freezer, though her mind was racing. She’d kissed Lena. Lena kissed her back, and now - now they were going to have ordinary dessert. Kara looked at Lena, her make-up gently smudged, a few strands of hair having fallen out, her unzipped hoodie hanging softly from her shoulders. Kara smiled. “But I’d fly anywhere you wanted to get more if need be.”


	7. Chapter 7

Kara sat with her legs folded on her bed, rocking slightly from side to side with impatience as she waited for Alex to pick up the phone.

“Do you need me to tuck you in a kiss you goodnight?” Alex said by way of greeting, adjusting the angle of her phone so Kara could see her properly.

Kara wasn’t worried if she could see Alex or not. “Alex! I kissed her! Then she kissed me back! And then, well…”

“Wait, slow down,” Alex interrupted. “You kissed… Lena?”

“It wasn’t a great kiss, but yes.”

“Then she kissed you?”

“Yes. Much better than my effort.”

“So….?”

“So what?” Kara asked.

“What happened next? What did you say?” Alex asked.

“I served ice-cream?”

“If that’s a euphemism, I don’t understand what you mean,” Alex said.

“It’s not,” Kara said. “I served us ice-cream. Which we ate, then watered the plants, then played a few rounds of Uno and a couple of Connect-4, then went and got ready for bed. Lena’s in the shower now.”

“So let me get this straight,” Alex said. “You kissed Lena. Then Lena kissed you. And you didn’t talk about it?!?”

“Well, no?” Kara said sheepishly. “We need to talk about it, don’t we?”

“Oh, Kara. What I am going to do with you,” Alex said, giving an exaggerated sigh.

“I’m good at pep-talks, I’m just a bit less good at feelings. Especially when they’re my feelings. I usually end up crying, and I don’t want to do that. And I don’t want - I don’t want her to say no.”

“I know,” Alex said kindly. “You’re the best at pep-talks. But Kara, if she kissed you back… you have to talk to her. Promise me that tomorrow you will talk to her.”

“I promise,” Kara said.

“Good,” Alex said. “I’m really happy for you, though,” she smiled.

“I’m really happy for me too,” Kara said, breaking into a grin. “I kissed her, Alex. We were finishing the dishes and I just - I kissed Lena in the kitchen and it was pretty great. And it wasn’t even a good kiss!”

Alex laughed. “Go to sleep. Call me or text me if anything else exciting happens.”

“Will do. Please don’t tell anyone else yet. I mean, you can tell Kelly because I’m guessing she’s just outside of the screen and has probably heard this whole thing anyway, but…”

“Don’t message Nia or Sara or Kate or Barry or anyone else who will get the rumour mill spinning.”

“Please and thank-you,” Kara said.

“Your secret’s safe with me. And Kelly, who you’re right, is right here,” Alex said, moving her phone to show Kelly beside her.

“Hi Kara,” Kelly said.

“Hi Kelly. Well, umm, goodnight guys.”

“Goodnight, Kara,” Alex said. “I love you, and I’m very proud of you.”

“I love you too,” Kara said.

“Now go stay that to Lena.”

“Alex!”

“Goodnight!” Alex grinned, and hung up.

Kara put her phone aside and lay back on her bed. She’d known what Alex was going to say before she even called, but needed to hear it anyway. She would talk to Lena tomorrow. She just had to.

…

Kara woke up fairly early. She’d slept fairly well, but as soon as she was awake, her mind began racing. Kara quickly got dressed before going downstairs and quietly slipping outside to pick some herbs and cherry tomatoes for their breakfast omelettes. Lena woke to the sound and smell of the omelettes frying, and soon emerged from the guest room, her satin dressing-gown wrapped over her pyjamas.

“Something smells good,” she said.

“I’ll put the toast on now,” Kara said, pushing down the toaster lever. “Three minutes and breakfast will be served. Did you sleep well?”

“Very,” Lena said. “I always sleep well here.”

Kara smiled to her, before turning back to the omelettes, not wanting to burn or overcook them. Ten minutes later they were scraping their plates clean. Kara was kicking herself for still not bringing up the kisses, but somehow the timing didn’t feel right. She would do it, she told herself, just no one liked a heavy conversation on an empty stomach first thing on a sunny Saturday morning, that was all.

“I think Shakespeare had it wrong,” Lena said, as she put her plate in the sink, knowing that they’d worry about the dishes later in the day.

“Wrong about…?”

“Music isn’t the food of love. Food is the food of love. I’m going to brush my teeth and get dressed.”

Kara stood dumbfounded. She closed her mouth. “Umm, Lena?”

“Yeah?” Lena called from the guest room.

“Do you want to go for a walk first, or do some gardening?” Kara asked, chickening out again. Why was it so much easier to battle planet-destroying monsters and end-of-the-world scenarios than to tell Lena what she really needed to say?

“It’s not meant to be very warm today, so we might as well garden now while it’s sunny, and we can go for a walk later on. It doesn’t matter if it clouds over,” Lena said.

“Ok. I’ll be back downstairs in a few minutes,” Kara said, trudging up the stairs to clean her teeth and brush her hair.

“Ok,” Lena called back. She looked at herself in the mirror, hair unbrushed, toothbrush in her mouth. Why couldn’t she tell Kara what she was feeling outright? Why was it so much easier to go head-to-head with a boardroom full of stubborn, arrogant, misogynistic men than to tell Kara Danvers how she felt? Did Kara not feel the same way? Why had she kissed Lena? Why hadn’t she said anything when Lena kissed her back? Why hadn’t she said anything about Lena’s comment about food? Was it because Lena changed the topic the second she made any move? Lena sighed and rinsed out the toothpaste.

Lena was almost doubting everything, and yet Kara had been up early to make their breakfast. They’d talked about the menu at Cafe Sushi, deciding they’d each get a Bento Box, though Kara insisted on getting a few little extras as well. Kara Danvers, Supergirl, was going to fly across the country to by them lunch, after they weeded the vegetables. Lena composed herself, wishing one of Kara’s powers was mind-reading, so she’d understand just how hard it was for Lena to open up in the way she wished she could.

...

Kara and Lena knelt in the garden, side-by-side but each facing opposite directions as they weeded seperate vegetable beds. Lena was glad that all the herbs were large enough that she wasn’t worried about mistaking them for a weed and pulling up the actual plant instead. The silence between them managed to be comfortable yet strained at the same time. There was so much going unsaid, and they seemed to have an unspoken agreement that they both recognised that, but chose to continue on as they were all the same, until Lena couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Kara, I - ”

“Lena, I think I really fancy you but I don’t know how to tell you and whenever I’ve tried to have a serious discussion with you I always find some dumb excuse not to or I end up in tears. I’ve wanted to tell you this for a long time. Always, almost. For as long as I wanted to tell you that I was Supergirl, but I wasn’t brave enough or I didn’t know how or I found some dumb reason not to and now - well, now here we are weeding Eliza’s vegetables because I don’t know what else to do.”

“Oh,” Lena said, focusing on the garden in front of her.

“Sorry,” Kara said, taking a deep breathe. “You were going to say something?”

“Yeah,” Lena said. “Something along the same lines, actually.”

“Really?” Kara asked, looking at Lena.

“Really,” Lena said, meeting Kara’s eyes only for a moment before turning back to the garden. “I’m not exactly good with this either. When I get too upset I end up shouting, because I don’t have any better coping mechanisms and every other emotion gets put into little boxes that can be neatly stored away and I - I think I put you into one of those boxes. My feelings for you, I should say.”

“Oh,” said Kara, sitting back and folding her legs.

Lena kept her attention on the garden, removing even the smallest of weeks.

“Well, umm… what do we do now?” Kara asked, picking at the grass.

“I don’t know,” Lena replied.

“I liked it when you kissed me last night,” Kara confessed, knowing she couldn’t change the subject now. “I was kind of shocked though, which I why I just stood there. Shocked that I had kissed you, then even more so when you kissed me back.”

“I surprised myself too,” Lena said, giving a little smile.

“I told Alex about it. And Kelly was there too. I hope you don’t mind.”

“You’re lucky to have Alex. To always have someone.”

“I know,” Kara said. “I - Lena, I - I’m…”

“I think we need to be better communicators,” Lena said, also sitting back and folding her legs.

“Definitely,” Kara chuckled. “I know that’s how Sara and Ava make it work.”

“I’d like to meet them one day,” Lena said, “And all your hero-friends.”

“I’d like that too,” Kara smiled, looking up from the grass and meeting Lena’s eye.

“So… are we… dating?” Lena asked.

Kara scoffed.

“You’re right, the word sounded wrong just saying it,” Lena said.

“I can’t think of any word that doesn’t sound completely wrong or make me want to gag.”

“Me either,” Lena said. “Don’t expect me to call you ‘babe’, either.”

“Oh, no way,” Kara said. “But we’re really doing this?”

“Yeah. Let’s give it a shot.”

“Perfect,” Kara grinned. “I know this is kind of personal and possibly off-topic, but if you don’t mind me asking, how long have you known? Or suspected that you like girls?”

“Since I was about thirteen or fourteen,” Lena said without missing a beat. “Although I generally made sure any feelings towards women were extremely repressed, though Andrea made that difficult. In my family I was enough of a black sheep, and being interested in women as well was completely out of the question. Then it got to the point where it was easier to just pretend that I - I wasn’t… well, you finally made that impossible. What about you?”

“I’m not sure,” Kara said. “I’m pretty sure on Krypton it was normal for people to be persuaded both ways, but when I came here I was still young. Plus I received a healthy helping of compulsory heterosexuality.”

“Oh, Planet Earth is very good at sharing that around,” Lena said.

“Yeah,” Kara said. “I don’t blame anyone, the Danverses least of all. It just - it made things confusing.”

“I understand,” Lena said. She looked around the garden. “I wish I could stay here until you go home next Saturday. If I didn’t have to go to that conference in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, I’d call the office and cancel my week.”

“Maybe one day I could come to a conference with you,” Kara said.

“I’d love that,” Lena smiled. “Kara Danvers on the mini-bus with the wives, going on day trips to the local wineries, or to luncheons and matinees.”

“Hey, I might have a great time! Alex is going with Kelly to a conference in Edinburgh in February next year. Sure it’ll be cold and dark, but she’ll get to hang out with the wives going to whiskey distilleries and castles and whatever. Maybe one day the psychology and whatever conferences you go to will overlap, and Alex and I can hang out in some foreign city together.”

“I can make sure of it,” Lena said.

“Really?”

“Obviously,” Lena smirked. “There’s a lot more power in the world than just the ability to punch things really hard.”

“Hey!” Kara laughed, giving Lena a playful nudge on the arm.

Lena feigned being hit hard and fell backwards onto the grass. 

Kara grinned and reached out her hand, which Lena took and Kara pulled her back upright. All of a sudden, the were sitting very close together, with their knees only millimetres apart.

“This is the part where we kiss again, right?” Lena asked.

Kara could hear both her own and Lena’s hearts beating loudly. “Yeah,” she smiled, closing the final bit of distance between herself and Lena, finally kissing her properly.


	8. Chapter 8

After a bit more kissing in the garden, Kara and Lena tidied up and headed back inside. Lena called Cafe Sushi to place the order for their lunch, and in next to no time Kara had flown across the country and back to pick it up.

“This really does give a new meaning to ‘fast food’,” Lena said as she took what had become her usual seat at the dining table.

“Sometimes it’s nice to use my super-skills for things other than defending the world and fighting bad guys. Sometimes it’s nice to use them to get lunch from across the country,” Kara said. She hadn’t been able to stop smiling since their conversation in the garden. The people in Cafe Sushi must have thought she was mad, showing up with a crazy smile and wind-blown hair.

“Or across the world,” Lena added.

“That too,” Kara said.

Lena grinned. “I know we haven’t eaten yet, and that smells delicious, but I’m not in this entirely for the amazing meals from far and wide.”

“Really?” Kara asked, sashaying over to the table with the serving utensils. “Why, Lena, what else could it possibly be?”

Lena bit her lip as she looked Kara up and down. Even in leggings and an old t-shirt she was stunning. “Let’s eat our meal before it gets cold, then see if there’s room for dessert.”

…

Later that afternoon, Kara and Lena went for a walk, Lena allowing Kara to take them up the track with the steep climb to the lookout, Kara having promised she’d carry Lena on her back if Lena got too tired. They talked as they walked, planning for a future that Kara never dared to imagine.

“I don’t think I’d be able to take one of the private planes for a personal vacation,” Lena said, “But business class is very nice. I doubt there’s any planes flying direct from National City to Rome with a first class, but I can always check.”

“It’s a shame I can’t fly you there,” Kara said. They were already planning a three-week escape to Europe as soon as Kara had accrued enough annual leave, though Lena insisted she would cover Kara’s costs if she had concerns about taking leave without pay. Lena had declared that they must spend a week in Rome before catching the train up to Milan, where they’d spend a few days, followed by a week on Lake Como, then back to Milan to catch the train up to Paris for another few days before flying home. On another a future trip she would take Kara to Ireland.

“Even if you could, you’d have to do a couple of trips back and forwards to bring the luggage,” Lena said.

“It would still be quicker than the time it would take in the luggage check-line at National City International Airport.”

“Touché,” Lena smiled, slipping her hand into Kara’s and allowing Kara to all but drag her up the last part of the hill.

“There we go,” Kara said as they reached the top, still holding Lena’s hand. “Even with patchy clouds, that’s still a good view.”

Lena looked at Kara. “It always is,” she said, catching her breath. “Back home now to make the potstickers for dinner?”

Kara looked at Lena and grinned. “Just when I thought today couldn’t get any better, you remind we’re having my favourite food for dinner.”

“My life revolves around the needs of your stomach now, doesn’t it?” Lena teased.

“My stomach is very important,” Kara said. “Got your breath back? Or do you want me to carry you back down? Or I could fly us home?”

“Really?” Lena asked.

“Why not? There’s no one around to see. And like I said earlier, it’s nice to put my superpowers to fun use sometimes.”

“It would be fun…” Lena said, and squealed as Kara swept her off her feet into a bridal carry. She wrapt her arms tightly around Kara’s neck. “Don’t you dare drop me, Kara Danvers.”

“Oh, I am never letting you go,” Kara grinned, flying off the top of the hill and out over the lake.

…

Kara and Lena lingered in the driveway. They’d had a fairly slow Sunday morning, with French toast drizzled with melted chocolate and scattered with fresh berries for breakfast, a walk along the lake front and a couple of games of Scrabble before making their lunch of coriander and chicken dumplings. Now Lena’s car was packed and she was ready to go, but it was a beautiful afternoon, and the temptation to stay in Midvale with Kara was great.

“I won’t see you for a week,” Kara pouted, holding Lena’s hands and gently swinging them.

“We will have breakfast next Tuesday morning, after I return,” Lena said.

“Is it a date?”

“Is it a date if it’s our regular breakfast place?”

“Maybe,” Kara said. “Have they always been dates?”

“Ha.”

“They do do really good breakfasts.”

“So do you,” Lena smiled.

“It’ll be nice to have someone else do the cooking again,” Kara said.

“Half the time when I’m here you get us take-away.”

“Well, sometimes it’s nice to eat out, and have someone else do the cleaning up.”

Lena smiled and leant in to give Kara a quick peck. “I’ll message you when I get home.”

“Please do,” Kara said, regretfully letting go of Lena’s hands and shuffling from one foot to another.

Lena opened the car door. “I better get going. If I wait too long, I’ll have the sun in my eyes for most of the drive.”

Kara reached out and grabbed Lena’s hand again. “Thank-you for coming.”

“Thank-you for having me,” Lena smiled.

Kara let go of Lena’s hand an pulled her into a hug. “Drive safely.”

“I will,” Lena said, wrapping her arms around Kara. “Have a nice evening.”

“You too.”

“I will. It’s a fun drive through the forest, though it would be more fun with you in the passenger seat” Lena said, letting go of Kara. “I better go.”

“One moment more,” Kara said, kissing Lena on the lips. Lena placed her hands on Kara’s waist and pulled her closed.

“Ok, now I really do have to go before I get much too distracted,” Lena said as she let go of Kara, wishing once more she could stay. “Thank-you, Kara.” Lena gave Kara one more peck on the lips before sliding into the car. “See you later.”

“See you later,” Kara said, and stood on the driveway and waved until Lena was out of sight.

…

Alex returned to Midvale on Friday, under the pretence that she wanted to spend the day with Kara before taking her home to National City the following day, but Kara had a sneaking suspicion that Alex wanted to check up on her and make sure the house was in order before Eliza’s return. Kara had spent most of Thursday making sure everything was in perfect order, having guessed at Alex’s true intentions. If she was honest, the garden was in better condition than when Eliza had left.

“I ran the dishwasher the other day after Lena left, then put the dishwasher cleaner through it,” Kara said, as Alex lurked in the kitchen behind her. She was making potstickers for their dinner, and made sure there would be plenty, in order to leave some for Eliza’s dinner the following evening.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Be helpful or go lurk somewhere else,” Kara pouted.

Alex chuckled. “What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing really,” Kara said, folding the potstickers with practiced ease.

“You’re a pro at that now,” Alex said, leaning against the bench beside Kara, watching her quickly fold each parcel of deliciousness.

“I hope I still get time to cook like this when I go home,” Kara said. “I know I won’t, but I’d like to.”

“What gets in the way? Being Supergirl? Catco?”

“Everything?”

Alex gave a nod. “It’s hard when the world needs Supergirl, but Kara Danvers needs potstickers.”

“And Alex Danvers and Lena Luthor, who also love my dumplings and potstickers,” Kara said.

“Start a food stall. I’d help out.”

“Ha. I do think I’d miss being a journalist, though. Oh, I’m going to have to tell everyone about Lena…” Kara said. All week she’d been trying to think of some way to mention it when she returned to work, but so far had come up blank.

“You don’t owe anyone any part of your relationship,” Alex said. “You don’t have to say anything.”

“I know, I just…”

“You owe them nothing. Give them the good old ‘no comment’ if anyone asks. It’s no one’s business but your own.”

“‘No comment’ is kind of journalistic short-hand for ‘guilty’. Or ‘piss off’.”

“Just like you don’t owe anyone your identity as Supergirl, you don’t owe them any comments on your relationship,” Alex said, folding her arms. “And being in the media might help you have a little more control of the narrative. Few people will care about Kara Danvers’s partner, but everyone will want to know who Lena Luthor is sleeping with.”

Kara screwed up her face. “Gross. Don’t say that.”

“Which part? Sleeping with?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Aren’t you?”

“Because you’re my sister, Alex! It’s gross!”

Alex laughed and poked Kara’s arm then her ribs.

“Ow! Hey, don’t tickle!”

“Then get the dinner ready quicker!” Alex teased. “Just the filling smells good and it’s not even cooked yet.”

Kara smiled. “But you really are happy for me and Lena?”

“Yes! I’ve told you a dozen times, a hundred times, yes,” Alex said. “I’d hug you, but I don’t want you to wreck any of those perfect potstickers. Are you happy? That’s what’s more important.”

“Yes,” Kara said, grinning as she turned to Alex, expertly folding the last potsticker without even watching as she did it. “Really, Alex. I’m delighted.”

…

Kara and Alex left Midvale mid-morning on Saturday. Kara felt strangely bitter-sweet leaving, almost as though she was moving out of home again. Even though she was excited to see her own apartment and friends back in National City, she’s enjoyed her time in Midvale more than she’d expected. The sisters were going to meet Eliza at the airport before she returned to Midvale and they went back to National City.

“Anytime now,” Kara said, impatiently checking her watch as she and Alex waited at the arrivals gate.

“Lena hasn’t messaged you in the past two seconds?” Alex teased, having noticed how regularly Kara was pulling out her phone and sending messages to Lena.

“Shut-up. Where’s Eliza?”

“For those of us who can’t just fly themselves over borders and have to go through passport control, collect their luggage and clear customs, international arrivals can be a slow process,” Alex said. “Especially if a couple of large flights arrive at the same time. The arrivals board said a flight for Paris arrived about ten minutes before mom’s, and a flight from Sydney about ten minutes afterwards, so it’s going to be busy.”

“I just want to give her a hug,” Kara pouted.

Alex wrapped her arm around Kara’s shoulder. “She won’t be long. Do you want me to buy you some chips from the vending machine?”

“Yes, please,” Kara said.

Kara and Alex finished the packet of Doritos moments before the door slid open and Eliza emerged.

“Mom!”

“Eliza!”

“Good morning girls!” Eliza said, rounding the barrier and pulling the girls into an embrace. “At least I think it’s morning. Long-haul flights are very strange space-time travel.”

“Did you have the best time?”

“Yes, I did,” Eliza said, letting go of the girls, “But I did miss my girls.”

“We messaged each other all the time and FaceTimed nearly every day, which is way more than usual,” Alex said.

“Well, I missed being on the same continent as you,” Eliza said. “Now, let’s go and get a coffee and get Kara something to eat, and I’ll fill you in briefly. Then I want to go home to the peace and quiet of Midvale and sleep for a week. Can you both make it to Midvale next weekend? I’ll have all my photos in order by then.”

“Of course,” Alex said.

“Definitely,” said Kara. “I want to see all your photos, and show you what I’ve been doing in the garden.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing my garden too. I saw some lovely gardens in England. Kew Gardens were amazing. I spent a whole day there. There’s even a palace in the gardens.”

“So you had a good time?” Alex asked, taking Eliza’s suitcase as they made their way to the foodcourt.

“So good I might like to go again. I’d happily do another cruise too,” Eliza said.

“Really?”

“Whereabouts?”

“Alaska sounds amazing, but I think I’d really like to see more of Europe while I can deal with the long-haul flights. Maybe a river cruise, maybe the Mediterranean.”

“I went to Rome to get lunch for Lena,” Kara said.

“Ooh, where did you go?” Eliza asked.

“Mom! Don’t encourage her,” Alex said.

“I think you’d really like Rome,” Kara said. “I’ve only been to pick up some food, but Lena gave me a guidebook and wrote in a lot of her own recommendations which is how I chose where to buy our lunch. And Lena and I are planning a vacation there for next year.”

“That sounds wonderful. You’ll have to tell me more about your plans. I could find a cruise that starts or ends in Rome, then I can spend a few days there before or afterwards.”

Alex smiled and shook her head, following her mother and sister as they chatted, noticing how naturally and with such perfect ease any mention of Lena came into the conversation.

…

Kara turned the key and opened the door to her quiet and empty apartment, long around at everything just as she left it. She dumped her bags beside the dining table and opened the curtains. On the coffee table she saw a small pile of mail which Alex, who had the spare key, had been collecting for her, plus a pot-plant, and a brown paper bag with the familiar stamp of the National City Central Bookshop on it.

Having determined that there was nothing of note amongst the mail, Kara looked at the note tucked into the houseplant in a pretty blue and white floral pot.

_Dear Kara,_

_Because you loved mom’s garden so much, I though you might like this._

_I love you and I’m proud of you._

_Alex_

_xxxxxx_

Kara grinned and whipped out her phone, quickly sending Alex a string of heart emojis in thank-you, and almost immediately Alex responded with the same. Kara sat down on the couch before opened the brown paper bag. She pulled out a hardcover copy of _Phosphoresce_ and flicked through the pages from back to front, stopping at the very front where she saw Lena’s familiar handwriting. Kara ran her fingers over the handwriting and wished Lena could be there now; having to wait until Tuesday to see her again felt like an age. Kara finally looked at the words:

_Dearest Kara,_

_Thank-you for seeing my inner light, especially when I couldn’t see it myself. Having you in my life (especially in the way you are now!) is more than I could have hoped for._

_Love,_

_Lena_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.
> 
> Thank-you so much everyone for reading and for the comments and kudos, it really means a lot :D


End file.
